A New Era in Robotics: Enigma’s Ambitious Approach

Robotics companies are working tirelessly to build foundation models capable of executing tasks without explicit training. However, most approaches focus on studying millions of web videos, conducting computer simulations, or collecting motion data from humans. Enigma, a research lab set to emerge from stealth, is taking a fundamentally different approach.

Founded by Jonathan Jacobi and Gal Niv, Enigma aims to study human-robot interactions to develop intuitive interfaces and possibly a different kind of robotic brain. The startup has raised a $70 million seed round led by Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital, with participation from Sarah Guo of Conviction Partners.

To test how humans want to communicate with machines, Enigma is launching a large-scale experiment that allows anyone in the world to interact online with more than 100 of its proprietary AI robots. These robots, housed in hangars located in Israel and California, can perform tasks such as drawing pictures with a paintbrush, fighting each other with swords, and performing simple chemistry experiments by picking up and mixing flasks with liquids.

Enigma claims to have developed both the robotic arms and their underlying models entirely from the ground up. Jacobi and Niv met while competing in hacking competitions as young teens and became close friends while serving together in Israel’s elite Unit 8200, where they conducted cybersecurity research.

When Jacobi and Niv set out to launch a startup together, they decided to apply their technical prowess to AI for robotics, a field where they lacked direct experience. They assembled a team of ‘smartest friends’ from Israel’s tech ecosystem and community, including alumni from top AI labs, math Olympiad winners, and several people who were even convinced to drop out of PhD programs.

According to Shardul Shah, partner at Index Ventures, Enigma’s outsider perspective affords them more room for originality. Jacobi believes that Enigma’s approach is starting from a very different place: ‘What’s the ultimate experience?’

Enigma aims to make human-robot interactions completely effortless. Jacobi says, ‘If you had to do your dishes and spent 15 minutes explaining to a robot where to put everything, everyone reaches the point of ‘Forget it, I’ll just do it myself.’ Right now, everyone is at that point – even with the most capable models.’

Enigma hopes that data gathered from its online experiment will reveal an interface that becomes the robotics equivalent of the car volume knob. The startup’s public test will evaluate different ways for people to communicate with its robots.

‘We’re going to learn a lot about what is the right way to interact with robots,’ Jacobi said. ‘Do we want to just talk to them over text or audio? Do we want to show them an example as a video? Or maybe do we want to tap, drag, and drop?’

Enigma’s experiment is very open-ended, but the hope is that by gathering real-world data on human-robot interaction, the startup will discover not only superior interfaces but better ways to train its foundational AI model.

The company might eventually figure out how humans prefer to communicate with robots. But for now, its business use case remains an enigma in its own right. While Jacobi declined to share specific use cases for Enigma’s AI, he said that the startup is already partnering with companies in healthcare, logistics, and entertainment.

Key Takeaways:

• Enigma has raised $70 million in funding to develop intuitive interfaces for robots.
• The startup is launching a large-scale experiment to test human-robot interactions.
• Enigma claims to have developed both the robotic arms and their underlying models entirely from the ground up.
• The company aims to make human-robot interactions completely effortless.